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Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Impact Crater: Emerging Powers

Hello
and welcome to The Deck Out!

Today’s blog is about the new set Emerging Powers and the cards that will bring
the greatest change to the metagame. So, let’s get started!

Pokémon Catcher #95

I
had to start with Catcher because it’s the most obvious of them all and it’s
Catcher that makes the difference to this format if we compare it to this
year’s World Championships’ format. Catcher lets you switch your opponent’s
active Pokémon just like Pokémon Reversal – the only difference being that
Catcher doesn’t require a flip. You might first think that decks that have
played Reversal in their lists just change Reversals to Catchers and nothing
else changes. That’s not true. Catcher will have a much greater impact and it
will defins the metagame just because it isn’t a flip card.
When Catcher weren’t in the format, there were actually decks that didn’t play
Pokémon Reversal (just look at the top2 of Worlds Masters and you get the
picture). With Catcher in the format, there just isn’t a reason not to play it.
MagneBoar can easily tech at least 1 Catcher in the deck and it’s easily
searchable with Twins. Because of Junk Arm you can also just play it in the
early game and change the game with just 1 Catcher. The great thing about
Catcher is that you don’t have to worry about the flip; you are able to KO just
that Pokémon you want just about any time.
Even Vileplume decks can play nowadays Catcher because it – again – is
searchable with Twins and can be quite devastating against Pokémons with big
retreat like Emboar just before you lay down the Plume.
Because Catcher will be so played you have to usually run at least 3 copies of
it in the deck that doesn’t work with Twins engine. You have to be fast and if
you want to beat slower (usually trainer lock) decks you must be able to KO
their key Pokémon before they evolve. For that, you need early Catchers or they
will get you. Running 4 Junk Arms helps as well.
Switching your opponent’s active Pokémon and hitting to bench has always been
the key elements in popular and successful decks (remember Luxchomp). Catcher
brings these elements to every deck’s access without a worry about the coin
flip. It can be used in so many purposes that only your imagination sets the
limits to the use of Catcher. I encourage you to think different ways of
winning with Catcher other than getting cheap prizes. Catcher will probably be
the most impactful card of the format for the many sets to come.

Beartic #30

In
my opinion Beartic is overhyped. I just like to discuss it because it’s hyped.
In theory Beartic is great: it has the magical 130HP which brings it out of the
OHKO zone with Vileplume, its first attack is almost broken and combos with
Vileplume as well and we finally have the Water Pokémon that will bring the
judgement day for Donphan and Reshiram which reign because of their Water
Weakness. In real life Beartic is bad: It needs 2 energies to hit 50(3 if you
don’t have DCE). It autoloses to free retreat Pokémon (ever heard of Yanmega
Prime) and even to Reshiram if they get their set-up ready before you lay down
the Plume.
The biggest problem with Beartic is probably it’s type. It’s like a wish that
was never granted. It’s seems like a good Water Pokémon but it doesn’t do the
things we want Water Pokémon to do – OHKO Donphan, Reshiram, Emboar, Typhlosion
etc. And, in fact, it only works - even in theory - well with Vileplume.

Gothitelle #47

The
Magic Room one. In my opinion Gothitelle is great for the game. It makes people
to think about building their decks. Before Gothitelle, Vileplume was the only
truly trainer-locking card in the format and it was almost impossible to use in
a competitive deck. That’s why people could easily throw 4 Candy’s, Junk Arms,
Reversals, Communications to each of their decks and not to worry about trainer
lock. All decks were fast and reliable because there wasn’t anything to stop
them from working.
Now we have Gothitelle. Gothitelle is also fairly balanced card from PCL
because it has again the 130HP which makes it playable. What makes Gothitelle
more playable compared to Vileplume is that it doesn’t shut off your trainers (you
can use Catchers but your opponent can’t – that’s what I call game control). It
has to be active – yes – but that isn’t that much of a set-back because it, in
fact, can even take the 6 prizes you need in a game. Gothitelle even has its
own energy accelerator in the format (Jirachi with Shaymin). These 2 cards make
Gothitelle even better. The only problem is how to keep Gothitelle alive but
it’s easily managed with Reuniclus(BW), few legendary Digimons(Zekrom and
Reshiram) and Max Potions or Blissey Prime.
The only problem in my opinion with Gothitelle is that it’s a one deck miracle.
Reuniclus is the only way to keep it playable and once you have an opponent
that OHKOs Gothitelle all the time you have faced an auto loss. Trainer locking
is a great strategy in a Pokémon TCG as well but I think Gothitelle should be a
little bit more versatile like Manectric ex in the past. Hitting to the active
Pokémon 30+20 for each Psy energy just isn’t enough for me.

Tornadus #89

This
must be the most underrated card of the new set. And I understand why. We are used
to see that great legendary Digimons have 130 HP and they hit massive 120
damage. Tornadus has only 110HP and hits for 80 so it can’t be good – can it?
Yes it can and the reason is already explained before in the blog. The reason
why Tornadus is a good card is that you don’t have to hit anymore 120 damage to
take a prize card. You can simply bring out the Cyndaquil T1 or T2 to the
active position with Catcher and deal “only” 80 damage which surprisingly is
enough. Heck, Luxchomp’s peak damage was 80 and it was still the best deck in
the format.
Tornadus isn’t a great card in the late game but you don’t always even have to
go that far if you get T1 Tornadus, begin the game, and have a Catcher in your
hand or your opponent’s has something worthwhile to KO as an active Pokémon. If
you however have to go to late game Tornadus helps you with that too. Its
Hurricane attack lets you move a basic energy card from Tornadus to bench. So
when Tornadus is KOed it will always have only 1 DCE attached to it and you
lose almost nothing. When the time comes for Tornadus to get KOed, you will
probably have already a fully set-upped bench with a prize lead.
Best thing about Tornadus is that it’s a Donphan counter that can be put in any
deck just like Yanmega Prime. Some may claim that Tornadus is worse than
Yanmega because Yanmega needs no energies to hit and has a free retreat. The
thing which makes Tornadus better than Yanmega is the minimal 10 damage more it
deals with Hurricane compared to Yanmega’s Sonicboom. This 10 damage makes the
Donphan Prime to 2HKO range which forces them to Max Potion/SSU their Donphan
every single turn to avoid KO. For Yanmega it takes 3 hits to KO Donphan which
means, Donphan would never be KOed.
Tornadus can be put in almost any deck with DCE but the best it works in deck
that can energy accelerate it T1 with cards like for example Pachirisu and
Shaymin. If you go first in the game there is a big possibility that you have
2-prize lead before your opponent can even evolve their Pokémon.

Bianca #90

Bianca is a Professor Birch reprint so at the first sight it seems that Bianca
will be as little played as Birch. The only difference in this format is that
we don’t have any more cards like Claydol(GE) or Steven’s Advice. Hand sizes
are usually 6 or below. Bianca draws to 6 cards so it usually gives you at
least 1 card whenever you use it.
The cards that make Bianca playable in any deck are Junk Arm and Pokémon
Communication. If you have 6 cards in your hand in the beginning of your turn
and use Pokemon Communication to search a Pokémon, you have 5 cards in your
hand. Then you use a Junk arm and search for a Rare Candy to evolve just
searched Pokémon. You suddenly have only Bianca your hand and are able to draw
total of 6 cards! That’s as good as Steven’s Advice in its full glory. That was
only an example so of course you are not able to draw 6 cards every time but
just using Junk arm and the trainer you searched for lets Bianca draw 4 cards.
That is better than any straight draw card in the format.
Bianca is also a great card for a recovery after Judge. With using Judge, your
opponent tries to disturb your game but when you have Bianca in your hand after
Judge, there is a great possibility that your opponent has only helped you in
the game.
I have never liked shuffle & draw cards that much and as we already have
straightforward format with lots of trainers and Catcher I think Bianca is one
of the best draw cards in the format.

Cheren #91

Cheren
lets you draw 3 cards. Just the card I was waiting for I don’t know how long
time. Of course all decks don’t want to use Cheren because they have to disturb
with Judge or draw with Juniper or get the hand to the same size with Copycat
but there are decks that benefit greatly of Cheren
First we have T1 decks like Zekrom which just love to draw 3 cards without any
setback because you can usually get a T1 Zekrom with a well-build Zekrom with
11 cards(opening hand + turn card + Cheren).
The second deck where I can think Cheren might be useful is Vileplume variants.
When I played Mew/Vileplume/teches I liked to use Cheerleader’s Cheer just
because I didn’t always want to use Sage’s because Sage’s can get too ugly
sometimes.
TV Reporter was played as well as Mary’s Request was played. That’s why I think
Cheren will find its place in the format as well in the decks that just want to
draw cards without discarding(we already have enough discarding drawing cards
like Sage’s and Juniper).
Cheren’s only drawback is that after Judge it isn’t always enough. Thankfully
Cheren won’t be the only draw supporter in your deck so Judge won’t cripple your
deck completely. And drawing Cheren from Judge is at least better than drawing
a Copycat after Judge.

Crushing Hammer #92

I
was hoping that this card would come in BW so I could put into my Worlds deck 4
Reversals, 4 Crushing Hammers and 4 Junk Arms and blame coin flips for my each
loss – j/k. It’s true that I wanted them to print this card in the BW but no
for that reason.
While flipping is always annoying, we have to settle for Crushing Hammer
(Formerly known as ER2) just because without flip Crushing Hammer would be
imbalanced.
Crushing Hammer works best in straightforward decks that have only 1(max 2)
main hitters and don’t need many resources for setting up. Good example would
be T2 Donphan that focuses mainly on Donphan and Earthquake.
In this format Crushing Hammer is less playable than before and that’s because
many Pokémon (just like Donphan) only need one energy to hit their best attack.
Discarding energies is always annoying but it’s a fact that easier way to get
rid of your opponent’s active energies in this format is to simple KO them.
This format is mostly all about OHKOs (hopefully that changes soon) and when
OHKOing there is no need for discarding energies.
Crushing Hammer won’t be that played in the beginning of the season except in
fast very straightforward decks but it will surely bring an impact to the
format later on this and next season.

Max Potion #94

This
card would have been in earlier seasons a bit imbalanced but in this format it
in fact makes the game better. Max Potion increases the deck options of decks
and there is even decks that can be built around Max Potion (everything with
high HP and 1 attack cost).
Max Potion gives you more healing options (which of course is good) and Blissey
Prime is no more the only card that can heal properly. In many decks you have
to now decide which is better – Blissey or Max Potion.
One thing you must remember about Max Potion is that you NEED a high HP Pokémon
to get it working properly. It’s no good to try combo Yanmega Prime and Max
Potion even though in theory it sounds great. Yanmega’s HP takes care of that
you won’t ever be able to use Max Potion because it’s always OHKOed.
The only problem in building a deck around the Max Potion is that once your
opponent’s notices what you deck is about and has a way to OHKO your
Pokémon(which isn’t most times even possible) you have an auto loss. Max Potion
based decks will work as long as they’re not BDIF and no one is countering
them. Once everyone has in their deck a Pokémon which OHKOs your Pokémons,
you’re done.

The
small Impact Crater

In the small Impact Crater lies the cards that have only small impact to the
format.

Great Ball #93

I should say Master Ball. I wonder what’s the meaning of this name change.
Maybe the Master Ball will get reprinted and get a great effect its name
deserves. But that’s enough about Master Ball. Great Ball lets you check the 7
top cards of your deck and put a Pokémon from the 7 cards into your hand. I can
see it working in 2 kinds of decks – decks that have a great amount of Pokémon
and in the very straightforward decks where communication isn’t that good
because of low Pokémon counts. Great Ball will see play but not much as Pokémon
communication.

Thundurus #35

Thundurus is a friend of Tornadus but it isn’t as versatile or good as its
friend. Thundurus’ weakness is the most horrifying in the game and it hits only
for 80. At the moment it will probably work best with Zekrom and the PachiShaymin-engine.
Its attack also discards energy which is way poorer effect than Tornadus’ but
the first attack “charge”, is why it’s in this list. With Charge you can get T2
80 damage every single game if you open with Thundurus. After Charge you can
also move the energies from Thundurus to another of your Pokémon with Shaymin
so it can work like Electrike and Voltorb in Zap-Turn-Dos.

That’s it for Emerging Power’s Impact Crater! Remember to leave your opinions
and comments about today’s blog in the comment box below so I can develop my
blog, thanks!

// Be back to The Deck Out this Friday
when I’ll analyze how to build a working Gothitelle deck!

I'm a bit suprised you're praising Bianca that much. Let's face it: Bianca is better than Cheren ONLY if you have 2, 1 or 0 cards in your hand. And if you have that few cards, are you sure you wouldn't prefer PONT over Bianca in that situation? Bianca is good as a Poké-power (Magnetic Draw) but not that good as your Supporter for the turn, as there are better alternatives.

Keen player: Well as I menntioned, I'm not a big fan of Shuffle&Draw so of course it's a personal preference. I have tested Bianca in only 2 decks but in the both decks it has worked very well(5-6 card every time). It's good because(as I also mentioned) of Junk Arm and Communication. I like straight draw better because it keeps off the "well I had Candy in my hand but not the stage2 Pokémon and now I have the stage2 Pokémon in hand but not the Candy" situations. That's the scenario you often run into with Shuffle&Draw. Of course Bianca isn't the best straight draw card ever but it's the best we got at the moment. And to why I praise it so much is simply because I want the usually underrated cards to stand out from my blog. Pokémon has no absolute facts so I like to make people to think alternatives and not to go with the mass without thinking things by themselves.